Aibel lands Njord Bravo upgrade gig

Norway’s Statoil has awarded a contract to Aibel for upgrading of the Njord Bravo floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessel in the Norwegian Sea.

Statoil said that the contract value is around NOK 1.3 billion ($167.6M).

Njord is an oil and gas field in the Norwegian Sea, located around 30 kilometers west of Draugen. The field development consisted of a floating steel platform with a drilling and processing facility, Njord A, and a floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessel, Njord Bravo. First oil was in 1997.

“We are pleased to award Aibel this contract today. After several good deliveries, Aibel has proven that the company has both the expertise and ability to handle this type of complex projects,” said head of project development in Statoil, Torger Rød.

The storage vessel will be prepared for extended operation of the Njord and Hyme fields, as well as tie-in of two new field developments in the Norwegian Sea, Bauge and Fenja.

The job involves extensive upgrading and maintenance of the vessel, in addition to installation of equipment on board for reducing emissions to air (VOC facility).

Aibel will start the work immediately, and the storage vessel is expected to arrive at the Haugesund yard early in July 2018. At peak, the project will engage around 600 people.

According to Aibel, the Njord Bravo FSU is scheduled to be delivered in the spring of 2020. The contract also includes an option for offshore work on Njord Bravo in connection with the hook-up on the field.

The Njord field was temporarily shut down in the summer of 2016, and Njord A and Bravo were towed to shore, to Stord and Haugesund respectively, for upgrading to recover the remaining resources from the Njord and Hyme fields. They are now being upgraded for additional 20 years of operation.

“It has been important for us to make good use of the time ashore in Kristiansund, so extensive work has been carried out while the vessel has been at the yard,” said Rød.

The jobs include disassembly and overhaul of equipment, leading to contract awards worth around NOK 80 million to suppliers in the Kristiansund region.

It is worth reminding that, just two weeks ago, Statoil awarded Aibel a contract for the construction of the processing platform topside for phase 2 of the Johan Sverdrup development in the North Sea off Norway.

Platform at Kværner’s yard 

In March 2017, Kværner’s yard on Stord was awarded the contract for upgrading the Njord A platform, involving around 3000 man-years. The work is progressing as planned, currently involving topside modifications and reinforcement of the top section of the hull.

The field is scheduled to start production in the autumn of 2020.

Statoil is the operator of the Njord field with a 35% interest, with DEA Norge 27.5%, Point Resources 17.5%, Neptune Energy 10%, Faroe Petroleum Norge 7.5%, and VNG Norge 2.5% as partners.